Friends to the Ed
by Wu the Stoic
Summary: Ed realizes how true his friends really are. This one is also a shout out to my buddy doot-meister! Seriously, check out her fic Wrong Place, Wrong Ed, her Double Dee is absolutely fantastic!


"Hey, Dork!"

It was the familiar gruff voice of Kevin that pulled Ed out of his reverie. Currently he was sitting in the mouth of the ally, his clothing scuffed and dirty. A bruise was blooming beneath his left eye, which was just beginning to swell, and a light trickle of blood seeped from the cut on his lower lip. His jacket was ripped at the shoulder and judging by the state of disarray around the area; there had been a pretty good fight.

Ed was ashamed. It didn't bother him that he didn't win the fight, or even the fact that it was Kevin who was riding up in the wake of the disaster. He wasn't ashamed because it had been an unwarranted attack by the group of kids, older kids, who ran the cul-de-sac two blocks over. Not only had they beaten him up, they had stolen his allowance as well.

He was ashamed because he didn't want one of his friends to see his humiliation. Already the gloating voices of the bullies was beginning to fade as they made their way back home and Kevin paused with one foot poised on the pedal of his bike. He lifted his face and watched the tops of the heads as they rounded the final corner, catching two of the boys as they jumped up to give each other a congratulatory high five.

"Those jerks came back again, huh?" he asked. When Ed didn't answer, he lowered his eyes to gaze at the top of the downturned head. "How many?"

Ed lifted a shoulder, thought for a moment and then gave it a slight shrug. Four? Five? He didn't know. He was on his way to the candy store to get jawbreakers for him and his friends. They had been lying in wait, ready for him when he stepped out into the open and then had attacked like a pack of wild hyenas. A long beat of silence stretched between them before Ed slowly drug the dusty sleeve of his jacket beneath his nose, smearing the blood from his cut lip over his chin. His nose was dry.

"Four or five," he answered softly as he continued to gaze down at his feet. Footprints tattooed in dirt marred the inside of his right high top, they had stomped his foot just out of the sheer joy of being cruel. It didn't hurt that bad.

"Four or five," Kevin answered softly as he lifted his head. "You let them beat you up?"

"I'm not supposed to fight," Ed answered as he finally raised his tear streaked face up to the redhead. "Mom said so."

Leaning over his handlebars, Kevin gave the taller youth a hard look. "You gotta fight sometimes in your life, Ed. You can't let creeps like that push you around. You didn't put up a fight last week when they threw you into the fence and scattered your homework all over the playground. You didn't put up a fight when they caught us all at the movies and took your place in line. You got a crummy seat because of that, didn't you?"

"Yeah… but I still got to watch the movie."

"That's beside the point, bro. You can't let people push you around because you're too numb to stand up for yourself."

"I'm not dumb!" Ed countered back, his eyes going hard for a brief moment.

"I said numb, not dumb." When Ed lowered his face again Kevin let out a harsh sigh. "Look. You're a nice guy and there are people in this world that will treat you like a doormat if they know they can. You can't be the one they wipe their feet on, you know? I mean… guys like you should never throw the first punch, but at _least_ throw the last, you know what I mean?"

Ed supposed so, but it still didn't seem right. He liked everybody, and he just wanted people to get along.

"You're one of the strongest people I know and how you didn't cave a face in or two is beyond me," Kevin said as he leaned back on his bike. "I guess it takes a lot of strength not to use it, huh?"

"Yeah," Ed agreed with a soft sigh. Even though he didn't mind that it was Kevin who found him, and yet at the same time was humiliated that a friend had to see him as a smoldering heap on the ground, it felt good that they were talking. Kevin was actually connecting with him on a level that meant they were equals. Maybe the cool kid actually did like the dweebs more than he let on. Ed twiddled his fingers together as his mind worked out more as he listened to the bike tires crunching over the asphalt as they rolled away. They were dorks, but they were _Kevin's_ dorks. A man had to protect those, didn't he? Even if it was just to give him a tiny sliver of advice? Maybe Kevin didn't want to be embarrassed because the lowest kids on the totem pole were getting their butts handed to them on a weekly basis by the new group of high school kids from down the way. Even if it was just Ed they were targeting.

Reaching out, Ed gently plucked at the threads protruding from the fresh tear just over his skinned right knee. This was just great. His mom was going to rip into him because those had been a brand new pair of jeans. He sighed again and then brought his knees up so he could wrap his arms around them and hug them to his chest. He didn't want to get up just yet. Maybe a few more minutes of introspection before he could break the bad news that they wouldn't be getting jawbreakers. Double Dee would understand, he always did. Eddy wouldn't be very happy though and the thought hit Ed with a strike of fear. Eddy would want to retaliate. Oh, he'd say it was over the loss of the jawbreakers, but Ed knew as well as he knew his own name; Eddy would go on the defense for him. That was the last thing he wanted, the torment he was suffering to fall upon his dearest friends shoulder.

So lost was he in that thought of despair that he hadn't realized that Kevin had returned until he felt a sharp pain on the top of his ear. Cringing, he lifted his face and then blinked when a palm came into his view. Sitting upon it were three large jawbreakers.

"You thumped my ear, Kevin," Edd whispered as he rubbed it while keeping his eyes glued to the candy.

"Yeah, well, I had been calling your name for a while. I don't have all day to sit here and babysit you. Here. Don't tell anyone I gave these to you, or I'll pound you."

Ed lifted his face. And though tears had welled into his eyes again, the look of pure gratitude and warmth flooded them as he beamed up to Kevin with pure joy.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, and turn off the waterworks while you're at it, you're thirteen, you're practically a man and men don't cry."

"Thank you, Kevin," Ed said, the pleasant timber and lilt of his voice coming back instead of a broken husk. He cupped his hands as the candy was poured carefully into them.

"Keep it zipped, I got a reputation to protect and all," Kevin grunted as he stood up on his pedals and rode away.

Smiling, Ed touched each piece of candy. Not only had he been given one, Kevin had made sure Edd and Eddy would get one too. "What a guy," he said with a smile. "What a _cool_ guy." In that one moment of kindness, that simple gesture had fixed his entire problem. Well, save for the hole in his knee, but he was sure his mom would have that patched up in a day or two. And when he told her what had transpired with the bullies, he knew without a doubt that the blame would no longer lie on his shoulders; especially since he didn't fight back.

"Ed is happy now!" he exclaimed as he cradled the three large balls in his hands, cupped together for safety, against his chest. When he heard Double Dee's exclamation of his name followed by the sound of a book bag falling to the earth and two sets of feet running in his direction, he let out a soft smile. For the first time in his life, he realized that he had people who cared about him as much as he cared about them. Even though it had taken a beating and his money absconded with, it was a lesson truly learned. Lifting his face, he grinned at his friends who squatted down beside of him, warm hands on his shoulders to offer comfort as he offered them a jawbreaker each.


End file.
